


Dearly Beloved

by A_Romantic



Series: We Are Gathered Here Today (To Witness Jon and Damian's Suffering) [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Super Sons (Comics)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, String Cheese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 20:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13772115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Romantic/pseuds/A_Romantic
Summary: It was pretty easy for Jon to convince himself there were no feelings beyond platonic between him and Damian until the son of Bruce Wayne got kidnapped and drugged.





	Dearly Beloved

**Author's Note:**

> **Me:** I don't really ship Damian with anyone? I mean, the occasional story is cute but it's whatever.  
>  **Damian:** *calls significant other Beloved in any fic ever*  
>  **Me:** ...Now I have to write about this.

There was a good reason that Damian never met up with Jon in Metropolis as his civilian identity.

Metropolis wasn't Gotham, but opportunist jerks who thought the best get-rich-quick scheme was to kidnap the son of Bruce Wayne existed everywhere and, while Damian didn't have to hold back  _quite_ as much as he did when he was a "defenseless" child, he still couldn't fight to his fullest extent. So yes, the decision to hang out in Metropolis in their civilian identities went badly because Damian's civilian identity was rich as hell.

Thankfully, of all the people Damian could have been meeting, it was the one with x-ray vision and superhearing. So, when Damian didn't turn up to the meeting place and a call to Dick revealed that they had gotten a ransom email with a picture of an unconscious Damian to back up their claim, it took about twelve minutes to locate the kidnappers and their hideout.

It was laughably easy to kick their butts.

Following the sound of Damian's heartbeat, he found the man tied to a chair, his eyes glazed over. Jon guessed he had been sedated pretty heavily to keep him from fighting back.

"Hey Dami," he said to his friend, beginning the process of untying him. "Sorry I'm late."

"B...Beloved?"

Jon froze, his face heating up, and suddenly he was grateful that, from the back of the chair, Damian couldn't see his reaction. Though, Jon was pretty sure the man was too out if it to remember anyway.

The ropes undone, Jon carefully lifted Damian into his arms. "I'm going to fly us to Gotham, okay?"

Damian hummed in response, and Jon was pretty sure his face turned even redder when Damian practically nuzzled him.

Doing his best not to think too much into it, he headed back towards Gotham.

* * *

Jon was quite happy to keep his bisexuality to himself.

It wasn't as if he was ashamed of that part of his identity, or that he was scared what his family would think. His parents were pretty awesome, as were his grandparents, and someday Jon probably would tell them about the fact that he was interested in guys as well as girls.

No, Jon was simply scared because living in a rural area with a lot of religious people and some people who he was 99% sure were part of the Klu Klux Klan, being openly not-straight would likely result in some not-good attention.

(His skin crawled at the use of the f-word and the way his old classmates talked about people who were attracted to the same sex or transgender, and he didn't buy the funny shirt online because he may have been physically strong, but people still terrified him with their capacity towards cruelty.)

Unfortunately, being bi and also firmly in the closet comes with the depressing reality of falling for your good friend and denying those feelings to hell and back.

Even if Damian wasn't straight, the boy had been raised in an entirely different culture with a different mindset, one that valued blood relations and whatever, and Damian had been raised for an entire decade with the knowledge that he would have to produce an heir to his family's bloodline (something that Jon, lacking a uterus, couldn't provide).

Also, Damian did seem to actually care about what people thought of him. Jon was certain that Damian could tell Dick Grayson that he decided to become a stripper and the man would be proud and supportive, and the rest of the Wayne clan was either not straight or didn't give a damn. That didn't mean Damian believed that.

Jon also knew that, as much as Damian could now freely admit that his childhood was not good, his mother's opinion certainly still mattered.

(Damian told stories that made Jon want to punch Ra's and Talia in the face, but he wouldn't for Damian. Even if every time he saw the scars on his best friend's knees from having to kneel on uncooked rice, or Damian pushing himself beyond his limits because sometimes he still thought he couldn't show any weakness, Jon felt enraged and wanted to break something.)

Either way, whether Damian was straight or not, Jon knew it was wishful thinking for Damian to like him and pursue a relationship with him. So he shoved the feelings far away and played the role of best friend as perfectly as possible. It was easier on his sanity to just pretend the feelings didn't exist.

Jon was an expert on pretending at this point.

* * *

"How is he?" Jon asked when Dick stepped out of the Cave's medbay.

"He's still kind of out of it, but he should be fine soon." Dick gave Jon a reassuring smile. "Thanks for getting him out of there. You want to stick around until he's got the drug out of his system?"

Jon nodded immediately.

Dick tilted his head and looked at him. "Did something happen? You seem kind of out of it yourself."

(How do you tell someone that their little brother is a person you definitely have feelings for and you're doing your best to take the affectionate actions today with a grain of salt to avoid getting your hopes up?)

"It's no big deal," Jon finally decided. "He was just really loopy when I got there."

"Did he say something?" Dick asked, concerned.

"He...uh..." He took a deep breath. It was fine. Dick wouldn't conclude anything from this. "He called me...Beloved?"

Jon watched as Dick's face morphed into shock before he quickly composed himself. "Oh. That's...I'm going to go sit with Damian. Alfred will probably bring you something to eat." With that, the man turned and went back into the medbay, leaving Jon confused and concerned.

* * *

There was always a sense of minor terror, working with the Bat Clan. Bruce Wayne was always pretty scary. Dick Grayson was fine unless you fucked up and hurt someone he cared about. Tim Drake could probably destroy your life without touching a piece of Kryptonite, but he wouldn't. Cass always seemed to know everything just by looking at you. Steph was plenty nice and friendly but she also was someone you didn't want to cross (Jon still had nightmares about the terrifying threats she made when he accidentally hurt Damian's feelings once). Alfred was polite, stoic, and also once beat Superman in a fight, so Jon _never_ intended to cross him.

But, of all of the Bat family, it was Jason Todd who scared him the most.

Because the rest of them would beat the shit out of him and call it a day. But Jason had actually killed and would if he saw a good enough reason. 

Jon knew that Jason would never kill him (he didn't have a reason to), but it still terrified him when the man stepped out of the medbay with a serious look on his face and looked over Jon with a calculating eye.

"H...Hi?" Jon stuttered.

"...You don't know, do you?"

He blinked, and his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Jason sat in the seat next to Jon. "You know about Damian's mom, right?"

"Some of that," Jon admitted. "I know that she wasn't the best mom, but Damian still cares about her. I know she didn't tell Bruce about Damian until he was ten. And I know she and Bruce had a thing at one point."

"Hmm." Jason pulled...a string cheese stick(?) from his pocket and peeled away the plastic. Then he began peeling at the cheese.

Jon was definitely confused, and still slightly terrified.

Finally, Jason looked at him. "Talia called Bruce that name."

"...What?"

"Bruce was pretty much the love of her life. She disobeyed her father's orders many times for him, she brought me back to my full mental faculties for him, so on and so forth. She was deeply in love with Bruce, and that was what she called him. Beloved."

(It was disturbing how Jon's brain immediately went to excuses, trying to rationalize how Damian couldn't possibly be in love with him.)

Jon was silent, confused and concerned.

"Now, accidentally outing yourself isn't fun under any circumstances," Jason continued, finishing his cheese stick. "Which is why Dick is with Damian to break the news gently to him instead of telling you himself. So, I might as well be the one to make this clear to you."

(Now the terror was back.)

"If you give my little brother shit about this, or out him to anyone else without his permission, I will hunt you down myself. I can't make you promise not to break his heart, but at least attempt to do it gently if you don't like him back. Now, cheese stick?"

Jon stared at Jason. "You just gave me the shovel talk, and now you're offering me a snack?"

"Yep."

"How long have you had those things on you?"

Jason shrugged. "They're in an insulated pocket. It should be fine."

Jon hesitantly took the snack and opened it up, taking a bite out of it without bothering to peel. Jason rolled his eyes but didn't question it.

"How do you tell people?" he finally asked, a bit nervously. "How do you tell people you're bi?"

Jason looked at him, before saying, "Well, you start with the people you care about or you know don't care, and you go from there. In the end, you'll probably have to keep doing it over and over again. Damian would probably be a good place to start."

"It...It feels too good to be true? That Damian would actually like me like that?"

"Kid," Jason began, giving him a look. "Giving you the title of Beloved is serious business for Damian, and he had to be drugged up to his eyeballs to openly call you that. And honestly, good things don't happen to people in the business we are in nearly enough, so maybe you should accept that something good is happening and that it might not again."

Jon bit his lip before nodding. "Okay. I'll talk to him about I guess. Later, when he's not still out of it."

"Sounds like a good plan." 

He finished chomping down on his cheese stick before saying, "Thanks, Jason."

"No problem."

**Author's Note:**

> So, this story might just be complete shit. If it is...well, I tried. Please, criticize me.
> 
> Anywho, if you like this ship, I probably won't write any more. Probably shouldn't have made the first fic on this account one for a ship that I'm not a huge fan for. I really screwed up this character establishing moment. Ah, whatever.
> 
> My tumblr is [a-romanticasexual](https://a-romanticasexual.tumblr.com) btw. Shoot me a message if you want.


End file.
